Crowdsourcing

For the first time in history, a crowdsourced team of amateur citizen scientists has discovered a multi-planetary system. Located 620 light years away, the system contains five exoplanets, and possibly a sixth, the majority of which are super-Earths. Read More >>

For years, space poo has been handled by NASA the old-fashioned way—nappies. But as the agency gears up to send humans into deep space, it needs a new method that can handle an emergency situation in which an astronaut may have to go longer periods in a poo-filled suit. Today, the ingenious winners were announced. Read More >>

Life aboard a ship in the 18th or 19th century—especially in the far north or south—was treacherous. Now, the records of these brutal voyages are playing a surprising role in scientists’ efforts to understand the future of the planet. Read More >>

About a billion people live without electricity, and they often turn to kerosene lamps: ultra dangerous, carcinogen-spouting, open flames that could turn homes into tinderboxes. So a new Indiegogo campaign’s out to provide safe, reusable lights that need zero outside energy sources. Read More >>

When New Zealand first raised its current flag, its design deferred to its United Kingdom rulers and bore a striking resemblance to another British colony next door. 100 years later, New Zealand is a diverse, sovereign nation which would also very much like to visually differentiate itself from the Aussies. So New Zealand is looking to its citizens for ideas. Read More >>

Tor is transforming. The online-anonymity service is making a concerted effort to find funding sources other than the United States government, a problematic sugar daddy that's bankrolled Tor for years. Read More >>

The Pacific Ocean is very, very big. Airplanes are big, too—but, compared to the Pacific Ocean, they are almost comically small. So, as rescuers finish up a week of searching unsuccessfully for Malaysia Airlines flight MH370, it's worth taking a second to marvel at what an impossible a task it is to find one little plane in that very big ocean. Read More >>

The Boeing 777 that seemed to disappear into thin air last weekend has still not been found after five days of search and rescue. Now a crowdsourcing company has started a campaign where anyone can pore over satellite images to find traces of Flight 370 or its 239 passengers. Read More >>

It isn't known how deep large parts of the ocean off the British coast really are, and this is clearly not ideal for the many sailors that navigate those waters. A new project funded by the European Community is using technology to solve this problem—technology and lots of boats. Read More >>

By now we've all heard about genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist Elon Musk's Hyperloop idea. Commuters climb into a giant tube and are fired at five times the speed of light (OK, no, but super, super fast) towards their destination. And soon, there could be a prototype. Read More >>

DARPA, as you may know, is a cool US government research lab. They design cool shit like planes that can fly without one wing. But sometimes, apparently, the hive mind knows best -- like this 'crowdsourced' swimming tank, which has just won the designers a cool £700,000, and endless bragging rights. Read More >>

Take a walk through University College London, and you may stumble across a wooden display cabinet containing a human skeleton with a wax head, wearing period dress. These are the remains of Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), Enlightenment philosopher and spiritual founder of UCL. And thanks to an online crowdsourcing initiative called Transcribe Bentham, his work has taken on a new lease of life. Read More >>